8.  The applicant was born in 1928 and lives in Cielcza, Poland.
9.  The realities of the international situation following the end of the Second World War prevented the Republic of Poland from asserting any claims arising out of persecution of its citizens, including as forced labourers, by Nazi Germany.
10.  In the period immediately following the Second World War, Poland did not conclude a specific agreement with Germany regarding the issue of reparations. It relied on the Potsdam Agreement of 1 August 1945, concluded by the governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
11.  On 27 February 1953 the London Agreement on German External Debts (the London Debt Agreement) was concluded by the United States of America, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Under this Agreement, consideration of claims arising out of the Second World War by countries that had been at war with, or were occupied by, Germany, and by nationals of such countries, against the Reich or agencies of the Reich was deferred until the final settlement of the issue of reparations.
12.  On 23 August 1953, the day after a similar declaration by the government of the Soviet Union, the government of Poland declared that it renounced any claims against Germany in respect of war reparations as of 1 January 1954. In a declaration of 27 September 1969 made at the United Nations, the government of Poland clarified that the renouncement of 1953 did not affect individual claims arising out of unlawful acts.
13.  It was only after the conclusion of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany of 12 September 1990 (the so‑called Two‑Plus‑Four Treaty) and the conclusion of two treaties between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland in 1990[1] and 1991[2] that the issue of persons persecuted by the Nazi regime was addressed in the bilateral agreement of 16 October 1991 (see paragraph 28 below).
14.  The applicant was subjected to forced labour during the Second World War on the territory of occupied Poland. In February and March 1941 he worked on a German farm near Cielcza. Subsequently, from April 1941 to April/May 1944, the applicant worked as a forest labourer in Cielcza. Finally, he was relocated to an area situated 200 kilometres from his habitual place of residence, where he was required to reinforce German defences from May/June 1944 to 26 January 1945. In February 1944 the applicant reached the age of 16.
15.  On 20 October 1993 the applicant applied to the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation (Fundacja Polsko‑Niemieckie Pojednanie – “the Foundation”) for compensation on account of his forced labour from the funds contributed by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany under the Agreement of 16 October 1991 (see paragraphs 28-29 below). On 2 February 1994 the Foundation’s Verification Commission (Komisja Weryfikacyjna), having regard to a document issued by the social security authorities, established that the applicant had been subjected to forced labour from February 1941 to January 1945 and awarded him 1,050 Polish zlotys (PLN) in compensation. This payment was granted within the framework of the “primary payments scheme” (wypłaty podstawowe). The issue of deportation was apparently not addressed in the decision. The applicant’s subsequent appeal against this decision was dismissed by the Appeal Verification Commission (Odwoławcza Komisja Weryfikacyjna) on an unspecified date. The Appeal Verification Commission found that the amount of payment granted to the applicant had been calculated correctly.
16.  On an unspecified date in 1999 the Foundation’s management board (Zarząd Fundacji) adopted Resolution no. 29/99, which introduced a deportation requirement for claimants who had been forced labourers. The resolution also provided that those claimants who had been subjected to forced labour as children under the age of 16 could be granted compensation regardless of whether the deportation condition was met (see paragraph 35 below).
17.  On 2 March 2000, following the adoption of Resolution no. 29/99, the Foundation’s Verification Commission granted the applicant a supplementary payment of PLN 365. The decision on supplementary payment related to the applicant’s forced labour as a child under the age of 16 ( from April 1941 to February 1944). Thus, the period of forced labour from March 1944 to January 1945 was not taken into account because the deportation condition as defined in Resolution no. 29/99 had not been met. The period of forced labour from February to March 1941 was not acknowledged in the absence of appropriate evidence.
18.  On 12 March 2000 the applicant appealed against that decision to the Appeal Verification Commission, challenging the amount of compensation granted. It appears that the applicant complained that the period of his forced labour between May/June 1944 and 26 January 1945, carried out in particularly harsh conditions connected with his relocation, was not taken into account by the Verification Commission. Having received no reply to his appeal, the applicant made further enquiries with the Foundation on 31 October 2000 and 3 January 2001.
19.  In the meantime, the applicant had lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman regarding the Foundation’s inactivity. On 4 April 2001 the Ombudsman informed the applicant that, regrettably, he was not in a position to question the lawfulness of resolutions adopted by the Polish‑German Reconciliation Foundation or any other foundation. The Polish‑German Reconciliation Foundation was established in accordance with the Foundations Act of 6 April 1984. In this particular case, the Foundation operated under the supervision of the Minister of the State Treasury. However, the Ombudsman could not interfere with the Foundation’s actions as long as they complied with its statute and other legal regulations. The Ombudsman also referred to the Supreme Court’s decision of 31 March 1998, which refused to recognise the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation as a public administration body (see paragraphs 41‑42 below).
20.  By a letter of 24 April 2001, the President of the Foundation’s Appeal Verification Commission informed the applicant that, under the Foundation’s internal regulations in force at the material time (Resolution no. 29/99), only forced labourers deported to the Third Reich or to an area occupied by the German Reich (with the exception of the territory of occupied Poland) were eligible for compensation. Finally, the applicant was informed that no further appeal lay against the decision of the Appeal Verification Commission.
21.  Nevertheless, on an unspecified later date, the applicant lodged a complaint against the decision of the Appeal Verification Commission of 24 April 2001 with the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny). It appears that in his complaint the applicant also challenged Resolution no. 29/99.
22.  On 14 December 2001 the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint, considering it inadmissible in law. It relied on Decision no. OPS 3/01, adopted by the Supreme Administrative Court on 3 December 2001 (see paragraph 45 below).
23.  In a letter dated 23 September 2002, the Minister of the State Treasury informed the applicant that, in order for a forced labourer to be granted compensation, it was necessary for him to comply with the deportation requirement as specified in Resolution no. 29/99 of the Foundation’s management board.
24.  On 21 November 2000 the applicant applied to the Foundation for compensation under the scheme for slave and forced labourers (the second compensation scheme), established under the Joint Statement of 17 July 2000, the German Law of 2 August 2000 on the creation of the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation (“the German Foundation Act”) and the subsequent Agreement of 16 February 2001 between the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation and the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation (see paragraph 37 below). On 17 April 2001 the Foundation’s Verification Commission rejected his request on the ground that he did not satisfy the deportation requirement set out in section 11(1)2 of the German Foundation Act. It appears that the applicant did not appeal against the decision of the Verification Commission of 17 April 2001. The applicant’s subsequent complaints to the Minister of the State Treasury were to no avail.
25.  In a letter dated 28 June 2005, the Foundation’s management board, referring to the Court’s admissibility decision in the present case, informed the applicant that its Resolution no. 29/99 of 18 August 1999 concerning interpretation of the term “deportation” had never restricted or violated his rights to receive a benefit, for the following reasons:
(a)  the applicant did not comply with the deportation requirement specified in Resolution no. 27/92 of 17 August 1992, under which deportation was defined as “deportation outside one’s place of permanent residence into the territory of the Third Reich combined with performing labour for the benefit of the Third Reich”;
(b)  the granting of compensation within the framework of the so-called primary payments for the period between February 1941 and January 1945 had been in breach of the Foundation’s regulations, namely Resolution no. 27/92;
(c)  thus, the applicant should have received compensation solely for the period up to February 1944, namely, for the period until his 16th birthday, since he had never complied with the deportation requirement as specified in Resolution no. 27/92;
(d)  the Foundation’s error committed in respect of the primary payment was rectified within the framework of the supplementary payments, and thus it could not be said that the applicant’s rights were restricted or breached.
26.  The applicant was further informed that, since he had resided and performed forced labour on the territory of Wielkopolska province which, known as Warthegau province at the time, was annexed by the Third Reich in October 1939, the obligation to perform forced labour in the area of the applicant’s residence (his first workplace was located 10 km from his place of residence and the second – Cielcza forest – was in his habitual place of residence) could not be considered as deportation with a view to performing forced labour. Similarly, the obligation to reinforce German defences on Polish territories annexed by the Third Reich was not considered “deportation” under Resolution no. 27/92. Lastly, the applicant was informed that in cases such as his, when the Foundation had made an error in favour of a claimant, the consequences of that error were borne by the Foundation, which had never claimed reimbursement of the overpaid amounts.